Grendel is the main antagonist in the story so far. In the most basic terms, Grendel is a giant, cannibal creature dwelling in the outer darkness. He is first described as a demon that bears the curse of the seed of Cain, this means he’s a member of a resented and exiled lineage that includes marauding monsters and menacing trolls. Like Cain, Grendel is an outcast and haunts the swamplands on the boundary of human society. Although the poem doesn’t have an explicit description of Grendel, his supernatural actions like killing thirty spearmen and carrying them all back to his den and waging war against every Danish man of might show that he is strong and almost invincible. Although most of the poem’s description centers on the Christian point of view on Grendel, the commentary shows that Grendel has roots in Scandinavian folklore and is a mix of the devilish figure with the draugr figure which is a more animated and vengeful version of a zombie. Draugr’s usually have a mother who is even stronger and more evil than he and this is true of Grendel as well. Another crucial attribute of Grendel’s is his stealth which allows him to prowl and sneak up on unsuspecting warriors as he hunts at night. One last, interesting part of Grendel’s description is that he is ale to wield magic and cast spells because during the battle he protects himself from iron blades.

Grendel’s nature and his motivations for his evil deeds are crucial to understanding the character as a whole. I think there are two forces at work in causing Grendel to commit these acts of violence. The first is loneliness and resentment for being exiled to the swamplands. This is further supported because Grendel is a member of Cain’s lineage who God himself had exiled and put a curse on. More specifically, Grendel feels pain and jealousy because he hears the sounds of happiness and sweet music everyday from Hrothgar’s meadhall. He acts on this jealousy and...

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...Grendel as a Ridiculous Character
Probably one of the greatest questions of the 19th century comes directly from John Gardner’s novel Grendel. Given a world with no inherent meaning, how should one live his or her life? Grendel lives in a world that he is not supposed to be in, acting out on emotion. Grendel represents the animalistic traits of humans. His actions are primitive and based around society’s acceptance throughout the novel. Grendel portrays a ridiculous character that is convinced we are born a certain way, and no matter how badly it will never change.
Being that Grendel is a ridiculous child-like character there are two points of view in this analysis. The analysis of Grendel, and his actions against humanity that is ridiculous in nature. As well as John Gardner’s assimilation of the late 1960’s to early 1970’s with Grendel representing the minority that was fighting for acceptance during the Civil Rights Movement.
Viewing Grendel in his youth, it is repeated throughout the novel that Grendel is alone- lost in the world. This feeling of alienation started at a young age with his mother who doesn’t respond to Grendel ever, but only embraces him into her mass as a motherly instinct. Grendel is born into a world that pays him no attention. Realizing this world is what he makes of it, what...

...Grendel in Beowulf
In Beowulf, a heroic epic poem, Grendel is one of the three monsters Beowulf, the hero has to slay. Grendel is described in the poem as a powerful monster that was spawned in the slime of the swamplands and is the son of “Grendel’s Mother”. The root of his evil is the humans who exiled him from the society and his aggression is driven by loneliness and jealousy. He represents evil and darkness among the Danes and is feared by them.
The storyteller described Grendel as a “powerful monster, living down in the darkness, growled in pain…” (Line 1) He lives outside the boundaries of the human society in the swamps as an outcast after being exiled by them. It gives the impression that he is byproduct of the humans and that they created him. There is pity towards Grendel but at the same time there is fear and eventually he shows his darkness and evil one day by killing thirty men in the mead hall of Herot. This shows how relentlessness Grendel was towards the humans. He is very strong and silent and no human can match his power, almost making him look immortal.
The reason why Grendel is so evil is because he was exiled from the human as the son of Cain, the texts states that these monsters are “murderous creatures banished by God, punished forever for the crime of Abel’s death” (Line 21) His hate towards the human is...

...Beowulf is a classical epic poem which describes Beowulf’s heroic deeds and his acts towards bringing justice and peace to the Scandinavian society by eradicating Grendel. The original manuscript (700-1000A.D.) and the modern film (2005) reveals significant differences between the characters’ traits and descriptions, an important quotation, descriptions of places, motives, a character’s presence and events that have taken place. Thus, this modern adaptation,Beowulf and Grendel, of an ancient text, Beowulf, is significantly flawed as any modern adaptation of an ancient text will be.
In the film, specific characters are portrayed differently as they are in the poem. A significant example of this is from the character, Grendel. The poem portrays Grendel as a demon who is ultimately evil and a descendant of Cain. The image of Grendel the poem gives its readers is nothing compared to that of a human’s traits and characteristics. “ He was spawned in that slime, conceived by a pair of those monsters born of Cain, murderous creatures banished by God, punished forever for the crime of Abel’s death.” (Beowulf, lines 41-45) This quotation shows us that Grendel was portrayed as a very non-human character, he was displayed more of a monster and a creature than a human.
“The Almighty drove those demons out, and their exile was bitter,...

...March 2013
Grendel Comparison
In novels with the same characters, the different authors portray the characters in two different ways. The characters may seem completely different, like in Grendel and Beowulf. John Gardner portrays Grendel in his novel differently than the author of Beowulf, so different that the character seems like two completely different characters.
In John Gardner’s Grendel, he paints a significantly different picture of his main character than in the Epic Poem Beowulf. In Beowulf, Grendel seems like a blood thirsty, man eating monster. Grendel is driven by his animal instincts, and does not contain human qualities. The writer describes his actions in this quote. "The monster stepped on the bright paved floor, crazed with evil anger; from his strange eyes an ugly light shone out like fire" (Beowulf line 725). This makes the readers believe that Grendel is evil and monstrous. John Gardner portrays Grendel almost humanlike. He walks around with human like qualities, and you can hear what he is thinking. You don’t see him as a blood hungry beast like you do in Beowulf. In the novel – Grendel comes across a deer. He says, "Blind Prejudice" (Gardner 7) "Ah, the unfairness of everything, I say and shake my head. It is a matter of fact that I...

...﻿Grendel as a Bully or Grendel as Pleasant
Have you ever heard the same story twice and had a different view on the story the second time you heard it? This is what happened in the novel Grendel by John Gardner; it was a retelling of the epic poem Beowulf just Gardner gave the reader an insight to what it was like to be in Grendel’s shoes.
Although these two stories had a similar background, a main difference in the two was the perception at which each of the stories was told. Grendel was told from the perspective of the antagonist Grendel himself and Beowulf had a narrator telling the reader the story. Since Grendel was telling the story in first person the reader could actually feel a connection with Grendel and maybe even some of the same emotions Grendel was feeling. However in Beowulf the reader thought Grendel was nothing but a bad creature by the way the author portrayed him. The author of Beowulf, who is unknown, was telling the story for entertainment wanting the reader to understand how Beowulf became known as courageous as well as how important it was to be the strongest warrior at the end of a fight; "Often, for undaunted courage, fate spares the man it has not already marked." (Lines 572-573). Gardner’s purpose for writing was much different. John Gardner wanted...

...protagonist, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands and Grendel's mother with a sword, which giants once used, that Beowulf found in Grendel's mother's lair.
Later in his life, Beowulf is himself king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorised by a dragon whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon with the help of his thegns or servants, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the dragon into its lair, at Earnanæs, but only his young Swedish relative Wiglaf dares join him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is mortally wounded. He is buried in a tumulus or burial mound, by the sea.
Beowulf is considered an epic poem in that the main character is a hero who travels great distances to prove his strength at impossible odds against supernatural demons and beasts. The poem also begins in medias res ("into the middle of affairs") or simply, "in the middle", which is a characteristic of the epics of antiquity. Although the poem begins with Beowulf's arrival, Grendel's attacks have been an ongoing event. An elaborate history of characters and their lineages are spoken of, as well as their interactions with each other, debts owed and repaid, and deeds...

...Beware of Grievous Grendel!
We have all heard of the great epic poem Beowulf; one of the first major works in English literature. Grendel is a monster in this epic poem, in which he terrorizes people. He is a huge, powerful descendant of the biblical Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy. In the same way as Cane, Grendel was cursed and condemned by the mighty Creator. Grendel is envious, resentful and angry toward mankind. He may attack at any time, for no reason at all and there is no way to reach an agreement with him to make him stop what he is doing. He exists to devastate and to murder human beings. Grendel may be a part of fiction in this poem, but he also exists in real life. In modern life we can find the character of Grendel in natural disasters and human beings.
A citation from the poem, translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland, would give a good picture of what Grendel caused to human kind; think of a beautiful place, a mead-hall, where people came together every night to eat, drink, sing and feast. People were living in harmony, until one night Grendel turned up and started the terror upon Hrothgar’s people, which would continue for the next twelve years:
Then, under cover of night, Grendel came
to Hrothgar’s lofty hall to see how the Ring-Danes
were disposed after drinking ale all...

...﻿ The epic poem of Beowulf was mysteriously written some time between the 8th and the 11th century. Even though Beowulf is a one series poem, it’s not the only piece of literature based on the epic tale of Beowulf. In 1971 a man named John Gardner wrote a novel titled Grendel, in which a parallel story is told from the wandering eyes and curious mind of Grendel; the monster. The story of Beowulf was written in third person and introduces a variety of characters, each with individual parts. Grendel, to the contrary, is written as if the audience was reading Grendel’s thoughts right on paper through a first person writing style. The separate points of view play a significant factor in how each story is interpreted and also the effect of the mood the audience feels by the tones depicted by the authors. The classic poem of Beowulf is similar to various other heroic stories, such as The Odyssey, in which a hero over comes immense challenges and then is present with one of several final tasks such as killing a horrific monster. By definition Grendel would definitely be considered a monster. All of the people and even Grendel himself describe him as a dreadful gruesome monster, but once the reader steps inside of Grendel’s shoes they begin to feel sympathetic for the isolated lonesome beast created by John Gardner.
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